Square Enix is the latest video game publisher to push for AI usage in video game development, aiming to let it handle a critical part of development almost completely by 2027.
As part of the company's latest earnings report, the Japanese publisher shared a Progress Report on its Medium-Term Business Plan, detailing some of the initiatives underway to boost long-term growth, which include promoting AI utilization in Japan. This is being achieved through the initiation of joint research with the Matsu Laboratory at the University of Tokyo, aimed at improving the efficiency of game development processes using AI technology.
The current goal of this joint research project is to automate 70% of QA and debugging tasks in game development by the end of 2027. This will "improve the efficiency of QA operations and establish a competitive advantage in game development", Square Enix detailed in the report. As of now, the research team is composed of more than 10 people, including researchers from the Matsu-Iwasawa Laboratory and engineers from Square Enix.
While Square Enix has only started researching AI usage in QA, other publishers are already using it for their titles, putting testers' jobs at risk. Last month, we learned that EA has already been using AI in QA for a while, as a former employee at Respawn confirmed that over 100 people were laid off last Spring because the company started using AI to review and summarize feedback from play testers, which was work previously handled by human employees.
Square Enix's plans to utilize AI to enhance game development efficiency appear to align with a prevailing sentiment among the most successful Japanese video game developers, such as Masahiro Sakurai and Hideo Kojima. Both developers are not averse to using AI to make large-scale game development sustainable and let it handle tedious tasks to allow them to focus on the creative process.
About the author: Francesco De Meo has been covering video games and technology since 2012, starting his career at small outlets like Gamersyndrome and GeekSnack. After joining Wccftech gaming section in 2015, he quickly expanded his video gaming coverage with in-depth reporting, interviews with iconic industry figures such as Grasshopper Manufacture founder and No More Heroes creator Goichi "Suda51" Suda, Resident Evil series creator Shinji Mikami, Team NINJA's president and Nioh series director Fumihiko Yasuda, and Silent Hill creator Keiichiro Toyama, reviews and on-the-ground coverage of major industry events such as Gamescom and E3. When he's not reporting or reviewing, Francesco can be found playing the genres he loves most, spending time with his six cats, reading, writing music, playing guitar and drumming for his progressive rock band.
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